New Mars Forums

Shifting a planet's orbit could prove next to impossible-without some major force (A meteor the size of South America perhaps?).

Yep, someone has to build all that lovely hardware you guys talk about.

The War on Red Dirt!

You know what I'm doing to help get humanity to Mars?  I'm going to college to get a degree in Mechanical Engineering.
I always liked designing stuff-so I decided to enter a field that would let me bring designs to life.  Hah.  Again I say HAH!

Mercury?  Maybe as a giant industrial facility, but you'd never want to live there.  Solar storms would play merry hell with your equipment.  Think of it as Mars, except it's harder to live on.

And this causes me to ask the same question, can we make any reasonable assumptions about potential alien races?  We only have one source on which to base our assumptions-us humans.  This is why I consider SETI a silly venture.  The ETs could be similar enought to fit our assumptions, and then again, they may be so different that none of our assumptions or conclusions may apply.

This extends into all fields.  SETI for instance, has been looking for Exterestrial radio messages.  But the point is, they have no way to prove that what they recieve is an actual message and not some extraordinary coincidence.  Our digital signals for instance, are based on states of 0 and 1-on and off.  Any hypothetical alien race might have developed a similar system-and then again they might have a completely different system of electronics.
Anything that is purported to be a "message" could legitimately be something wholly unrelated to extraterrestrials.  It is open to reinterpretation.
First contact will occur when we actually meet aliens-and not before.

Well, on the subject of using a female-only crew, I think you could have major problems around that time of the month.

"The first "train" may be a caravan of wheeled vehicles, which could be hooked together and towed by a lead engine, or they could simply driving together as an automated caravan. Powering the group of vehicles would be a nuclear reactor, either in the lead engine pulling everything or in a lead vehicle, beaming power by microwave back to the other vehicles."

Hey RobS

This vehicle might be something along the lines of what you are looking for.  Essentially, it was a Land-train.  Developed by an RG LeTourneau, it saw use in Greenland in the fifties.
I think something like this might be ideal for surface transportation on Mars.  Come to think of it, this would make a rather capable mobile base.

Martian Justice in the Early Years of the colony
There was a lawyer who docked,
Around Mons at 9 o'clock.
He argued it unfair,
To deny criminals air.
And was promptly thrown out the airlock.

Whether or not we want it, I think there will eventually be lawyers-from-Mars.

"I would think it would depend greatly on the level of technology of the colonists. It could conceivably be as few as one.

But there is also the question of what one defines as a colony. I would suggest that a viable breeding pool would be a minimum requirement, but again those numbers are debatable."

The technology of the colonists must be at a high enough level for them to breed and survive in such as hostile environment.  Everyone on the board speaks of technologies that enable humans to live on Mars, yet I wonder how many Martian colonists it would take to maintain and create those technologies.  How highly trained would they have to be?  And could they pass on their vital scientific skills to any potential offspring?

As just a hypothetical number, I suggest 500 colonists would be required for the colony to be self-sustaining.

A question comes to mind.  What is the minimum number of colonists required to create a self-sustaining Martian colony? 
Many of us do not realize how interconnected we are. You will need enough doctors to keep the population healthy, enough engineers & machinists to keep the technology working, enough farmers (Biologists) to keep the population fed as well as geologists.  Did I mention you'll need programmers, as well as educators? A lawyer or two would be helpful.
Assuming little supplies from Earth, how many people does it take to support a high-tech colony?  This ain't homesteading folks.

"That's probably due to the fact that socialism isn't exactly an economic system. And any unplanned economic system doesn't work properly. The world markets are proof of that."

A free market works.  I define "Works" here as fufilling it's intended purpose.  Whether the world markets work properly or not is entirely relative to who you are.
Let us not speak of socialist Mars versus capitalistic Mars.  Rather, I ask you, should the future Mars have a predetermined (Command) Economy or an economy that results from the cumulative choices of every individual involved in the colonization of Mars?